As previously announced, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN") has formally opened the application window under which organisations can apply for the right to own and operate a new generic top level domain. The application window will remain open until 12 April 2012. Under ICANN's rules, applicants for new gTLDs must first purchase an application slot, or placeholder, for each application for US$5,000 each, which will then be deducted from each US$185,000 gTLD application fee.

The Company intends to use the Placing proceeds to provide additional working capital and in particular, to fund the application slots and subsequent fees for new gTLDs on behalf of itself and clients of Minds + Machines. The Company expects to submit multiple batches for application slots during the application window having already submitted for its first twenty application slots. In January, TLDH announced that Minds+Machines will also be providing the back-end registry services for the proposed new .BAYERN domain.

Antony Van Couvering, CEO of TLDH, commented: "We are delighted that both existing and new investors have responded so positively to our plan. With a new cash balance of approximately US$25 million, no debt, and a public stock, we believe that TLDH is ideally positioned to participate in the new gTLD opportunity."

Peter Dengate Thrush, Chairman of TLDH, added: "TLDH management believes that the increased capital will allow it to increase significantly the number of applications it is able to make, allowing it to develop a wider, more diversified portfolio of names in multiple languages and scripts."

The new Ordinary Shares being issued pursuant to the Placing will, on issue, rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary Shares in issue and application will be made for the new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. Trading in the new Ordinary Shares on AIM is expected to commence on or around 17 February 2012.

About Top Level Domain Holdings Limited

Top Level Domain Holding is a publicly traded holding company listed on the London AIM market. The company is focused on the new top-level domain space. Top-level domains, such as .com, run by VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN), and .biz, run by NeuStar (NYSE: NSR), are regulated by ICANN. ICANN has announced plans to expand the number of top-level domains. TLDH intends to make targeted investments in this space, focusing on both infrastructure technologies and specific top-level domains.

Gofus is coming on board as PIR pursues the proposed .NGO (non-governmental organization) domain extension.

Gofus, who currently serves as the board chair of the national board of Volunteers of America, served as senior vice president of global product management for Verizon Communications in 2009 and chief marketing officer at Verizon Business from 2006 to 2008.

The .ORG domain has more than nine million domain names registered worldwide. Reston, Va.-based PIR was founded by the Internet Society in 2002.

In an interview with DailyVista, Gofus discusses how she will utilize her blend of nonprofit, marketing and communications expertise to grow .ORG's presence.

I believe that I speak for many when I question whether ICANN is opening up these comment periods in good faith, or instead whether these are smokescreens, mere distractions to pretend that ICANN is "listening" to the public while staff and insiders proceed with predetermined outcomes.

I note that as of today, there are multiple past comment periods where ICANN staff have not yet even summarized/digested the public's input. This is simply unacceptable. In other organizations, people would get fired for not doing their jobs in a timely manner. At ICANN, such behaviour is not only tolerated, it is seemingly encouraged. It appears to be part of the culture of "willful blindness" of ICANN staff, insiders and the Board, in order that its "top-down" agenda can be imposed upon an unwilling public, rather than actually listening to the public in the "bottom-up" process that it suggests exists.

Furthermore, when ICANN does bother to get around to publishing summaries, it's clear that they do not even listen to what the public has to say on the topic! The public opposed new TLDs by a great margin. It was a very clear message, yet ICANN kept ignoring what the public had to say, and mischaracterized their words when speaking to others (e.g. politicians in Washington, etc.) about the public "consensus."

One sees that ICANN continues to speak in that twisted and biased manner in this actual comment period, when it uses loaded phrases such as "carefully crafted, new protections" or "perception" or "perceived need" — the underlying assumption being that the public is simply "stupid" and "doesn't understand" new TLDs, and if only the public "knew better", they would "come around" and "love what ICANN is doing." That is simply preposterous and arrogant. It demonstrates that ICANN is out of touch with reality. The informed public knows that new TLDs will be a disaster, and has said so in clear language at every opportunity. ICANN is not "misunderstood" as some people believe — the public fully understands ICANN, and opposes its plans! Period!

ICANN acts like a greedy politician, asking for a "tax increase" to pay for a new bureaucracy that simply transfers wealth from the public to itself and its insiders. ICANN is not creating new wealth. ICANN is destroying wealth. Taxpayers see through attempts to bamboozle them that the "tax increase" is a good thing. Just as the public sees through attempts by ICANN and its insiders to bamboozle them that this new TLDs plan is "good" for the public. Attempts to dress up their greedy proposal using words like "innovation" fail, because the public is smarter than ICANN and can see through their self-serving proposals.

One need only look at the .XXX rollout, which was a disaster for the public. Millions of dollars were spent by universities, non-profits, individuals and corporations to purchase "protection" so that someone else could not tarnish their image/brand/identity. ICANN and its insiders do not consider this to be a "disaster", though — they look at this as "innovation", and pat themselves on the back saying "job well done." ICANN might pretend "well, no one told us this was going to happen… how were we to know??" That's utter nonsense, of course. One can go back to the analysis of Tim Berners-Lee on new TLDs, who didn't mince his words. He said "New Top Level Domains Considered Harmful". Could one be more clear?? [NB: He was not pointing to just .mobi and .xxx — he was saying this about ALL new TLDs (see the "Title" tag in the W3C page).]

ICANN and its insiders are emboldened by the dot-XXX launch. They want to multiply that "tax" on the public, what many have described as a "protection racket", a thousand-fold. ICANN suggests that "this time will be different" — keep dreaming! The only thing that will be different is the *degree* to which the public will be damaged. ICANN wants to damage the public a thousand-fold, to the benefit of itself and its insiders.

ICANN instead needs to take a step back, whether willingly or by being forced to do so by the GAC, DOC, NTIA, DOJ or by other agents that are representative of the public interest. I suggest ICANN be compelled to do the following:

(1) immediately suspend the new TLDs rollout, and refund all monies collected to date.

(2) terminate the staff who have pushed forward this new TLDs plan over the objections of the public. It's clear that these staff have their own agenda that does not reflect the public interest, and it's time for new blood that is ready to serve the public, rather than staff who want to be masters over an enslaved public.

(3) go back and present true options to the public regarding new TLDs. In our prior recent submissions (see here and here), (which ICANN has yet to summarize, although we repeat much past input) we identified FIVE allocation methods for new TLDs. Five! 5! Yet, ICANN has never presented them all as options to be seriously considered. They simply imposed in a top-down manner their single plan that maximized the benefits to ICANN's insiders, rather than allow for competing alternatives that maximize the benefits, if any, to the public. One can see some of the options that ICANN failed to allow the public to even comment on, such as:

(i) no new TLDs

(ii) .com domains simply "ascending" to the root (no need for "defensive registration" concerns in that scenario, is there??)

(iii) Ascended TLDs approach (see here for full description) which also reduces the need for defensive registrations considerably.

(iv) regular competitive bidding/tenders for lowest cost to registrants (this was the DOJ/NTIA/DOC proposal in December 2008)

(4) go back and do true economic studies that weigh the benefits and the costs on the public (not just the benefit to ICANN and its insiders) for all alternatives (including the four options presented in point (3) above), not just the self-serving single plan that ICANN wants to impose upon the public. The economic studies must be truly independent, with researchers selected by the NTIA/DOC/DOJ or GAC, and not by ICANN staff/insiders.

In conclusion, ICANN simply acts as if it "knows better" (which it doesn't) and dismisses all attacks on its extremist and disastrous plans. It is our true hope that ICANN not be allowed to damage the DNS further. As Tim Berners-Lee wrote:

"The second effect is that instability is brought on. There is a flurry of activity to reserve domain names, a rush one cannot afford to miss in order to protect one's brand. There is a rash of attempts to steal well-known or valuable domains. The whole process involves a lot of administration, a lot of cost per month, a lot of business for those involved in the domain name business itself, and a negative value to the community."

The existence of this comment period about "defensive registrations" is proof that "Sir Tim" was right! (maybe that's why he was knighted, due to his brilliance) We ask that the new TLDs plan be terminated, so that further "negative value to community" does not occur. By continuing to ignore the public's wishes, ICANN is causing DNS instability. A trusted custodian of the DNS would not be causing DNS instability. Yet, ICANN has been doing exactly that. It's time that the world recognizes that ICANN is no longer a trusted custodian of the DNS and its damaging plans must be opposed.

Written by George Kirikos, President, Leap of Faith Financial Services Inc.

1. Localization – Your offerings are focused on local markets and there is no agenda for a multi-directional outward expansion. True, there are millions of successful businesses comfortably paced and happily servicing their local customer base, but a gTLD is most suitable when there is a challenge to tackle unlimited marketing options and enlarge national or global visibility.

2. Discounted Pricing – You pursue a reduced price strategy over creating premium branded goods. Commoditized businesses nestled in their own culture all over the globe stay firmly streamlined with such thinking. A gTLD is for extreme value added models in pursuit of extreme image visibility and mindshare to earn premium profit. This tool is to assist in digital presence and brand name visibility.

3. Brandless Advertising – Your business has a fierce agenda to push more adverting and promotion but not necessarily branding. There are far more businesses using advertising without any clear image positioning mandate or branding. A gTLD is for well defined strategies on market positioning and high value brandable concepts to reach massive customer touchpoints. This platform is for well structured name identities leading charge for brandable offerings

4. Outsourced Talent – Your business model mainly outsources marketing, advertising, branding and IT components. It's very common for businesses to avoid building highly skilled internal teams to integrate and create competitive advantage. A gTLD demands commanding knowledge from the internal teams to interact with highly specialized external services to achieve a comprehensive long term plan. It will allow sophisticated branding maneuvers and tackle futuristic issues.

5. Cyber-Oblivion – Social Media/Multilingulization/Cyber Branding is irrelevant in your successful organization. Organizations must either respond and interact with the rest of the cyber world or prepare to fall into an odd culture separated from the market reality. A gTLD is for aggressively pursuing the global 2 billion online users, driven by innovation and adoptability to global marketing needs in harmony with one internet one world, one name brand and one owner philosophy. It will fit with game changers mentality.

6. Budgetary Constraints – Your current sales volume or profit margins do not allow such expenditures. Almost all businesses are in a catch 22 trying to make such quantum leaps. The costs of gTLD are equal to production cost of a TV commercial. When properly applied, gTLD creates marketing weapons with maximum impact resulting in increased sales advantage and greater profitability. Under right applications it can replicate sub-domain-name branding at fraction of cost.

7. Cascade Effects – Your business model does not allow for the creation of unlimited customer touchpoints and multi-directional expansion. Most businesses structurally are not prepared for unlimited growth. A gTLD cascades downward when there are numerous applications for fully integrated social media and latest cyber technologies. It will spread outwards to increase customer touch points.

8. Convoluted Clusters – Your product and services name identities have become confusing and this lack of symmetry makes the costs prohibitive. Most businesses have either too few or too many brand names due to internal disparities and corporate politics supporting customer's confusion. A gTLD program demands well defined naming architecture to enable distinct name identities to act as precise marketing weapons. It will force corrected rules and vision towards business naming issues.

9. Name Rejection – Your already established name identity has no elasticity for stretching over the canvass of global image and trademarking and it is unable to pass the stringent tests of ICANN. Last century regional names are not capable to fit the next generation of global digital cyber branding. Businesses must either ignore or face the glaring disfunctionalities of their names. A gTLD provides wings to a globally workable name pushing them into a higher stratosphere in the fastest time and at a minimum cost. The ownership of a gTLD name will attract global spotlights.

10. Brandless Empires – You are in the business of making money and have successfully done so. Every corner of this planet has such great examples and yet not every success results in a successful brand delivering value-added experience at higher returns. A gTLD is for those wishing to own exclusive ownership of a globally recognized cyber name identity device, earn the respect and support of national or global mindshare, offer high value premium brands, while pursuing market domination via name identity. Name identity ownership must match high caliber outward bound brandable ideas.

(Excerpted from DOMINATION, THE gTLD NAME GAME by Naseem Javed Copyright © 2012
by permission of Metrostate Syndicate)

Written by Naseem Javed, Corporate Image & Global Naming Expert

Mail authentication schemes like DKIM and the new dmarc.org group use cryptographic signatures to help authenticate mail and prove that it really is from who it purports to be from. So, if the mail can authenticate the sender, the phishing problem goes away, right?

Unfortunately not. One huge problem is that even if you have all the crypto stuff so you can be 100% sure that a message really is from, say, BANK-AMERICA.COM, you don't know whether BANK-AMERICA.COM is actually your bank or not.

I've made a little game called Phish or Fair. It shows you a domain name, you guess whether it belongs to Bank of America. Try it out and see how you do.

Then see if you can figure out why a bank would use over a thousand different domains. My example here is Bank of America, but they're no worse than other big banks; I picked them because their name is easy to search for.

If banks were serious about phishing, they'd pick one name, one domain, and use that consistently. But they don't.

PS: BANK-AMERICA.COM belongs to some guy in France.

Written by John Levine, Author, Consultant & Speaker

Domain Name Watching and Trademark Watching Services make perfect sense when new registrations and applications are being submitted and granted on a daily basis. I think that we can all easily agree that trying to understand new domain name and trademark registrations without an automated service would be nearly impossible.

And when ICANN eventually moves away from these discrete application rounds, I will be the first one to recommend an Application Watching Service.

However, as all new gTLD Applications in this first round will be publicly posted to the ICANN website on May 1st , it would seem that reaching for Ctrl-F would be the quickest and easiest way to search for exact- and near-matches.

Additionally, the applications that are likely to cause the greatest concern are probably those that consist of generic terms being applied for by a single company which intends to restrict ownership to only itself. So looking through the list of applications will be critical — you may not know what is of concern until you actually see it.

Be wary of companies offering new gTLD Application Watching Services at this time. Given that the number of submitted applications will likely be between 1,000 and 1,500, companies should be able to easily review the full list on May 1st, and quickly identify applications of concern.

Written by Elisa Cooper, Director of Product Marketing at MarkMonitor

• First, is a helpful FAQ that explains plainly the Legal Rights objection process. It's important that rights owners are very familiar with this process and are ready to respond if in the unlikely but potentially problematic situation that another entity applies for a gTLD that includes their intellectual property.

• Next, comes a summary explanation of the post gTLD delegation (beginning late 2012 or early 2013) rights protection mechanisms included in the program and provided for the defense of intellectual property rights.

• Lastly, WIPO has provided a set of links to analysis and other resources about the New gTLD dispute resolutions mechanisms.

With the May First "reveal date" — the day that ICANN will announce all of the applicants and the strings that have been applied for — approaching quickly, rights owners should be ready to respond. Reading the first article is a great place to start. Thanks to WIPO for sharing these links and this information.

Written by Frederick Felman, Chief Marketing Officer at MarkMonitor

The key to understanding the program's economic impact is to follow the theories of economist Paul Romer and look at how the rearrangement of resources creates value. ICANN's program increases the supply of resources that registries have for creating value. Value creation by registries can come from: (1) introducing new TLD signals for things like location, community, and social responsibility (for example, .nyc for New York City, .music to signal community, and .green to signal environmental corporate responsibility); (2) combining information, such as in the .tel model, which provides contact information for the companies using the gTLD; and (3) introducing a gTLD that competes with .com.

Given the new resources provided by ICANN, the burden now lies on the registries to innovate. But they have to be careful of cognitive biases in choosing among the gTLDs. For example, a registry that chooses the proposed .music should ask itself, "Is there value in .music?" The temptation is to ask the far easier "Do we love music?" Not the same thing, but studies show that we often answer an easier question instead of a harder and more relevant one, and that we'll do so without noticing the swap. (For details on cognitive error traps, see Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow. I have warned against cognitive biases in gTLD value estimation and in domain name appraisals.) Another trap is reliance on the popularity of key words in social media, an approach that flopped with the recent failure to predict the success of presidential candidates.

Remember, there is no easy way to measure new gTLD value creation. The domain name industry has focused on registrations, but that's because they are easily measured and the information is publicly available. Number of registrations does provide a viable measure of a registry's profits, but the registrations may be defensive by brand owners rather than value creating. (For a discussion of alternative measures, see "The Economics of Well-Being” by Justin Fox, HBR January-February 2012.)

New signals and combinations of information, á la .tel, can be value adding for established companies as well as new ones. But switching costs will probably keep most com-branded companies from making the jump. So new companies may converge on a new gTLD that competes with .com while existing companies will more than likely register their brands under a large number of the new gTLDs as a defensive measure. Put all the registrations together and there will be enough revenues for the com-alternative gTLD to be viable.

One reason for gravitating to a com-alternative gTLD is that new companies might feel constrained by the unavailability of desired .com names and thus have a motive to find reasonable alternatives. (See Why Dominant Companies Are Vulnerable by Kyle B. Murray and Gerald Häubl, Sloan Management Review December 2011.) This is especially true because emerging brand owners don't have to acquire any new skills in order to adopt a new gTLD.

Written by Alex Tajirian, CEO at DomainMart

StarHub, a fully integrated info-communications company in Singapore, today announced it will apply for its own branded slice of Internet real estate as part of the revolutionary new Top-Level Domain program, which is set to change the way Internet users navigate the web.

StarHub has partnered with technical registry provider ARI Registry Services and digital brand management services provider Melbourne IT Digital Brand Services (DBS) to help it apply for and operate its '.brand' domain name.

In applying for '.starhub', StarHub joins other leading brands such as Canon, Deloitte and Hitachi in announcing plans to participate in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' (ICANN's) new Top-Level Domain program, which opened for applications last month.

StarHub aims to create a branded, authoritative corner of the Internet devoted completely to its business interests under the '.starhub' Top-Level Domain. In future, consumers may see new website addresses such as 'mobile.starhub', 'tv.starhub' and 'broadband.starhub' introduced to the brand's marketing and advertising activity.

Mr Oliver Chong, StarHub's Assistant Vice President of Brand and Marketing Communications, explained the '.starhub' Top-Level Domain will position the brand as a leader in the region.

"Our '.starhub' new Top-Level Domain will cement the company's position as Singapore's most innovative info-communications company. We pride ourselves on being at the forefront of innovation and through this initiative StarHub is one of first companies in the region to publicly commit to the next generation of online navigation," Mr Chong said.

"We believe the '.starhub' Top-Level Domain will deliver clear marketing and advertising benefits to StarHub, such as improved online brand recall and a more intuitive consumer experience with easy to remember domain names such as 'mobile.starhub'. We also anticipate potential Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) benefits by operating a more targeted and relevant naming system that is clearly matched with our website content," he said.

"Ultimately, we believe '.starhub' will deliver increased consumer trust and loyalty in our digital brand and enable StarHub to future-proof its online presence."

Mr Adrian Kinderis, CEO of ARI Registry Services — the company chosen by StarHub to provide technical expertise and infrastructure for the initiative — said it was a bold step forward for the company and reinforces its position as a leader in online innovation.

"StarHub is an industry leader and operating a new Top-Level Domain will reinforce its position at the forefront of innovation within the online space. As a proven global registry solution provider, we are extremely excited to be chosen to help support the '.starhub' Top-Level Domain," Mr Kinderis said. "A simple, memorable and branded Internet domain name like '.starhub' will allow consumers to bypass search engines and go directly to the content they are looking for. I anticipate that this announcement by StarHub will open the floodgates for Asian brands to get on board with this exciting initiative and it will be a major boost to the local digital economy."

Mr Theo Hnarakis, CEO & Managing Director of Melbourne IT — the company chosen by StarHub to provide domain strategy and application consulting services — said the decision to apply for '.starhub' would deliver long-term benefits for the StarHub brand.

"The way consumers connect with brands online has changed dramatically in the past few years with e- Commerce booming, mobile Web browsing rising fast and social media usage expanding — all of which has provided brands with opportunities and headaches in equal measure. Vital to the future of nearly every modern company is the ability for customers to easily engage with the business online. Savvy brands like StarHub understand that fact and realise the cornerstone to their future online strategy lies in a '.brand'," Mr Hnarakis said.

The application window for new Top-Level Domains opened on 12 January and will close on 12 April 2012.

Why register?

The question to this answer seems simple. To know who has registered with an organisation. This makes it possible to contact the registered person or organisation, to send bills and to discuss policy with the members.

The rationale of unreachable registrations

This one completely goes by me. ICANN distributes IP resources at the highest level that are on principle scarce: domain names and IP addresses and sets policy around the distribution of domain names. So it seems to be in the utmost interest of ICANN to have an accurate database. Over the past years it has been shown over and over again, that accuracy was not a priority of ICANN, even against her existing policies.

There does not seem to be a rationale for this lapses in registration measures. ICANN in the end loses money as she provides a service, but is most likely not paid for this service after registered parties have become unreachable. Next to that it is not good for ICANN's image, as government and LEA reactions have shown over the past years. It could even become a threat to ICANN's very existence.

Cyber crime and enforcement

With the coming of cyber crime, spam and botnets, law enforcement agencies of different back ground became interested in Whois data and were very much frustrated when they found data not to be accurate. (And vetting and revocation mechanisms not being in place.) Whois data is a primary source at the start of investigations. So if these are false this makes investigations harder, not impossible.

Inaccurate data

What can be reasons that data is inaccurate? There can be several reasons. To give a few examples. Someone forgot to change the data after a move of the office, contact person, a merger, bank account, a company stopped its activities, etc. In the meantime the domain names are still used as they were meant to, but from an unknown address.

A second reason could be that free speech advocates want to have a chance to hide their identity behind a so called proxy registration. This way they are safe from prosecution in their home country. Usually this is supported by western governments.

A third reason can be criminal intent. A person or group of persons use domain names for personal gain through illegal activities. They never intended to provide accurate data. From a society point of view this is an activity that preferably is stopped as fast as possible.

What to do about it?

We are discussing unreachable registered companies. It looks quite simple to me. ICANN has many ways to reach out to these companies and does so. Everyone concerned gets one year to alter the data. As soon as someone complies, the data is submitted to the Whois database, after being vetted by ICANN.

All that have not updated their registration on time -and one year is a very lenient time frame- are de-registered by ICANN .

Legit after claims

If ICANN makes sure there's a good procedure to follow for legit claims after the de-registration that come in anyway, I'm sure this procedure will work. Criminals usually do not show up and try to find new ways to proceed their business.

Vetting of all new registrations

When ICANN makes sure new applicants are vetted before being admitted and an ongoing checking procedure of existing members is put in place, I'm convinced that the Internet will become a safer place for all concerned. Also, she becomes an example for policy at lower level, whether domain name or IP address organisations, by setting a standard. It makes one avenue on the Internet harder to reach for criminals.

Update - Feb 7, 2012: Some amendments were made to the post as per comment #4

Written by Wout de Natris, Consultant international cooperation cyber crime + trainer spam enforcement

ARI Registry Services today announced it signed contracts to provide technical registry services for 21 new Top-Level Domains within the first week of applications opening.

Adrian Kinderis, CEO of ARI Registry Services, said signing 21 contracts in the first week was the perfect start to the application window.

"The opening of the application window on 12 January has clearly motivated applicants to get moving on this unique, yet limited opportunity. We immediately witnessed an influx of enquiries and 21 contracts had been signed by the end of the week," Mr Kinderis said. "The majority of these contracts are .brand TLDs, representing some the largest and most recognisable brands around the world. This indicates that the time of procrastination is over. Applicants need to move now or run the risk of missing out."

According to an analysis by ARI Registry Services, brands have shown the strongest interest (60% of interest) in applying for a new Top-Level Domain, followed by entrepreneurs (30% of interest) and then governments or other groups (10% of interest) wanting to represent their city or region online. An analysis of the industries shows technology brands (20%) lead the pack, closely followed by banks and other financial service providers (11%).

Mr Kinderis said he expects to make public client announcements with major brands in the near future. He also noted there is now no doubt about the level of demand for new Top-Level Domains.

"Critics of the program have suggested there is little demand for new domains. However, from the results we have seen in the first week of applications, we can clearly see strong demand exists."

Although the first week saw a strong result, Mr Kinderis warned that many potential applicants were still sitting on the fence with a 'wait and see' mentality.

"We have clients that are still undecided about whether they should apply. They have been put off by the negativity that has been surrounding the program. There have been delays and speculation. There is also a misguided perception amongst some that they can wait until the next round to secure their brand or generic category name. My message to those clients is that there is no certainty about when there will be another round. Potential applicants need to understand that if they take a 'wait and see' approach, they may miss out all together," Mr Kinderis said.

The application window for new Top-Level Domains (TLDs) opened on 12 January. ARI Registry Services signed the 21 contracts in the seven day period between 12 and 19 January. Due to confidentiality agreements, ARI Registry Services is unable to reveal any specific details about the contracts. The names of the clients, along with all the other clients ARI Registry Services is working with, will be revealed on 1 May 2012 when ICANN publishes the list of applications it has received.

This is a widely attended educational event hosted by the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee (ICAC), part of a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. More information about the 15th Annual Tech Exhibition and Reception can be found at:

http://www.netcaucus.org/events/2012/kickoff/

What: Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee's 15th Annual Kickoff Reception & Technology Exhibition
When: 5-7 PM, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012
Where: Hart Senate Office Building, Room 902
RSVP: RSVP's appreciated. Please register at the website or onsite at the event.

Follow the event on Twitter: #ICACTech

This event is free and open to the public.

"Russia, though cautious in their approach to IDNs in the new TLD program, trusts Sedari with one of their critical national assets — its capital city" said Sedari's CEO Dr Liz Williams. "This is the first of Sedari's city domain names to be signed and one of a number of Internationalised Domain Name applicants we are advising. FAITID is a great organization full of enthusiastic and experienced professionals who will offer Muscovites and others exciting opportunities for second-level names in Russia," Williams continues.

The .MOSCOW and .МОСКВА project is backed by Moscow's local government and won an impressive showing of support from over 17,000 Internet users in on-line and off-line polls.

"Implementation of any TLD is a complicated project with many issues to resolve" says Dmitry Burkov, FAITID Board Member, "That's why we've chosen Sedari as our strategic international partner for .MOSCOW and .МОСКВА. Sedari management has the experience and industry knowledge on ICANN that makes us confident the company is familiar with all the procedures of the corporation, in particular related to new TLDs. Together with Sedari we'll make the project for Moscow top-level domains successful giving Russian users more choice in the domain name space."

About FAITID

FAITID is the Foundation For Assistance For Internet Technologies And Infrastructure Development, a Moscow-based not-for-profit multistakeholder organization. Introduction of the domains for the Russian capital is the initial and key FAITID project. FAITID's structure involves all interested parties in the process of the TLDs implementation such as local government, the private sector, and Internet community representatives.

Nancy Gofus joins .ORG, The Public Interest Registry (PIR) as Chief Operating Officer

Currently, Ms. Gofus serves as board chair of the national board for Volunteers of America — a national non-profit dedicated to helping those in need live healthy, safe and productive lives. In this capacity, she works closely with the executive team on expanding the organization's reach and raising awareness of its efforts in helping senior citizens, veterans, and at-risk youth, children and families nationwide. Previously, Ms. Gofus' served as senior vice president of global product management for Verizon Communications in 2009 and chief marketing officer at Verizon Business from 2006 to 2008. In that capacity, she was primarily responsible for delivering and communicating Verizon Business' value proposition by developing and overseeing the marketing strategy, advertising, brand management, and product management. Prior to the Verizon/MCI merger in 2008, Ms. Gofus developed and delivered MCI's new generation of services, guiding the evolution of MCI's product line and helping companies make the transition from traditional data services to IP services.

"Nancy brings to PIR that unique blend of non-profit, marketing and communications experience which directly speaks to PIR's core mission to both serve in the public interest and provide a safe, more secure Internet," said Brian Cute, chief executive officer of PIR. "Nancy's business acumen and international experience will help continue our reputational growth as an exemplary registry and further solidify .ORG's position as the domain of choice for non-profits, individuals and the like. As the Internet grows due to the introduction of new top-level domains, so will PIR's commitment to the public."

Added Ms. Gofus: "As a non-profit, PIR understands the needs of that community and has truly been seen as partner to international organizations looking to build their online presence. I have long admired their work, and I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to work alongside Brian and the rest of the PIR team to help advance .ORG's impact and reach on a global scale."

A graduate of the College of William & Mary, Nancy also currently serves on the Foundation board of The College of William and Mary. Previous work experiences include time as executive vice president of marketing and customer care for XO Communications from 2000 to 2003. During her tenure, she helped drive the company's growth from $250 million in revenues to over $1 billion.

Antony Van Couvering, CEO of Top Level Domain Holdings, commented:

"We view .bayern as a very significant win for Bayern Connect and for TLDH. We are fully aware of the responsibility entrusted to us and plan to fully support Bayern Connect in its mission. Germany has 82 million inhabitants, 62 million internet users [source: ITU September 2009] and 15 million domain names registered under .de [source: Denic Statistics]. By comparison, Bavaria has 12.5 million inhabitants. We foresee a long and mutually profitable relationship with Bayern Connect and the people of Bavaria through this initiative."

Top Level Domain Holdings is currently supporting a portfolio of gTLD applications ranging from geographic applications, wholly-owned or joint venture applications for generic word based domains, and applications by third party clients where Top Level Domain's registry services company, Minds+Machines, provides the registry service.

About Top Level Domain Holdings Limited

Top Level Domain Holdings is a publicly traded holding company listed on the London AIM market. The company is focused on the new top-level domain space. Top-level domains, such as .com, run by VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN), and .biz, run by NeuStar (NYSE: NSR), are regulated by ICANN. ICANN has announced plans to expand the number of top-level domains. TLDH intends to make targeted investments in this space, focusing on both infrastructure technologies and specific top-level domains.